Decoupling apparatus, a radiation unit and antenna

ABSTRACT

In one embodiment, the decoupling apparatus includes a conductive body adapted to be arranged in the antenna to act as a radiation part of the antenna for transmission of electromagnetic waves with a frequency; and at least one slot formed on the conductive body, wherein the at least one slot comprises a dividing part extending to an edge of the conductive body to divide the edge and an intersecting part intersecting with the dividing part. With the radiation part including the decoupling apparatus, the different band radiation units do not need to be far away from each other to obtain good performance.

FIELD

Example embodiments of the present disclosure generally relate to anantenna, and specifically to a decoupling apparatus and a radiation unitfor an antenna.

BACKGROUND

Wireless mobile communication is one of the most rapidly growingindustries. The capacity of wireless mobile communication systems isclosely related to frequency usage. The frequency spectrum on whichwireless communication equipment depends is a limited natural resource.A major problem of the radio communication system is the limitedavailability of radio-frequency spectrum due to high demand. Therefore,the ideal mobile system can be defined by a system operating within alimited assigned frequency band and serving an almost unlimited numberof users.

This inevitably involves the provision of radio coverage in a number offrequency bands and complicates the design of the network basetransceiver stations. With respect to antennas, the expense of multiplebase-station antenna installations and public resistance to unsightlyantenna placements has motivated the installation of multiband antennasat base-stations and thus avoids an increase of antenna masts andpayloads. The multiband antenna is an antenna designed to operate inmultiple bands of frequencies. Multiband antennas use a design in whichone part of the antenna is active for one band, while another part isactive for a different band. Multiband antennas are usually expected todemonstrate comparable performance measures (especially input impedance,radiation pattern, and polarization) in each of their operating bandsand have been the subject of vigorous research over the past twodecades.

SUMMARY

Multiband antennas usually encounter problems such as electromagneticcoupling, which degrade the efficiency, correlation and eventuallydeteriorate the communication quality of the entire antenna system. Inorder to at least partially address the above and other potentialproblems, example embodiments of the present disclosure provide adecoupling apparatus and a radiation unit for an antenna as well as anassociated antenna.

In a first aspect, example embodiments of the present disclosure providea decoupling apparatus for an antenna. The decoupling apparatuscomprises a conductive body adapted to be arranged in the antenna to actas a radiation part of the antenna for transmission of electromagneticwaves with a predetermined frequency; and at least one slot formed onthe conductive body, wherein the at least one slot comprises a dividingpart extending to an edge of the conductive body to divide the edge andan intersecting part intersecting with the dividing part.

With the radiation part comprising the decoupling apparatus, thedifferent band radiation units do not need to be far away from eachother to obtain good performance. In this case, the antenna can be mademore compact, thereby further saving, for example, limited space in abase station, and thereby increasing the radiation range of the basestation in a cost-effective manner.

In some example embodiments, the at least one slot comprises at leastone pair of slots with the dividing parts extending in differentdirections. This arrangement can further facilitate the improvement ofthe decoupling effect.

In some example embodiments, the at least one pair of slots are arrangedsymmetrically.

In some example embodiments, the at least one slot comprises a pluralityof slots formed along a length direction of the conductive body with apredetermined distance apart.

In some example embodiments, the dividing parts of the plurality ofslots extend in a same direction.

In some example embodiments, the dividing parts of adjacent two slots ofthe plurality of slots extend in opposite directions.

In some example embodiments, the slot comprises a transverse part actingas the intersecting part and a longitudinal part acting as the dividingpart that are perpendicular to each other, and the longitudinal partextends from a middle of the transverse part to one side of thetransverse part.

In some example embodiments, the transverse part extends along a lengthdirection of the conductive body, and a length of the transverse part iswithin a range of one-eighth to one-fourth of a wavelength of theelectromagnetic waves transmitted by the radiation part.

In some example embodiments, the slot comprises a first part and asecond part separated along a center line of the longitudinal part.

In some example embodiments, one or more of the plurality of slots areformed so that the first part and the second part thereof areindependently formed on the conductive body.

In some example embodiments, the independently formed first and secondparts are symmetrically arranged on both sides of the adjacent slot.This arrangement can further optimize the decoupling effect of thedecoupling apparatus.

In some example embodiments, the conductive body comprises a coppersheet formed in a printed circuit board.

In a second aspect, a radiation unit is provided. The radiation unitcomprises a supporting part made of a conductive material; at least onefeeding part electrically coupled to the supporting apparatus; and atleast one decoupling apparatus according to the first aspect asmentioned above electrically coupled to the supporting apparatus.

In some example embodiments, the radiation unit is a dipole.

In a third aspect, an antenna is provided. The antenna comprises atleast one radiation unit as mentioned in the second aspect as mentionedabove.

It is to be understood that the Summary is not intended to identify keyor essential features of example embodiments of the present disclosure,nor is it intended to be used to limit the scope of the presentdisclosure. Other features of the present disclosure will become easilycomprehensible through the description below.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The above and other objectives, features and advantages of the presentdisclosure will become more apparent through more detailed depiction ofexample embodiments of the present disclosure in conjunction with theaccompanying drawings, wherein in the example embodiments of the presentdisclosure, the same reference numerals usually represent the samecomponents.

FIG. 1 shows a perspective view of a portion of array antennas acting asa multiband antenna according to example embodiments of the presentdisclosure;

FIG. 2 shows a top view of a portion of array antennas acting as amultiband antenna as shown in FIG. 1 according to example embodiments ofthe present disclosure;

FIG. 3 shows a perspective view of a radiation unit according to exampleembodiments of the present disclosure;

FIG. 4 shows a top view of a radiation unit according to exampleembodiments of the present disclosure; and

FIG. 5-11 show several example arrangements of a decoupling apparatusaccording to example embodiments of the present disclosure; and

FIG. 12 illustrates a simplified block diagram of an apparatus that issuitable for implementing example embodiments of the present disclosure.

Throughout the drawings, the same or similar reference symbols are usedto indicate the same or similar elements.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

The principle of the present disclosure will now be described withreference to some example embodiments. It is to be understood that theseembodiments are described only for the purpose of illustration and tohelp those skilled in the art to understand and implement the presentdisclosure, without suggesting any limitation as to the scope of thedisclosure. The disclosure described herein can be implemented invarious manners other than the ones described below.

In the following description and claims, unless defined otherwise, alltechnical and scientific terms used herein have the same meaning ascommonly understood by one of ordinary skills in the art to which thisdisclosure, belongs.

References in the present disclosure to “one embodiment,” “anembodiment,” “an example embodiment,” and the like indicate that theembodiment described may include a particular feature, structure, orcharacteristic, but it is not necessary that every embodiment includesthe particular feature, structure, or characteristic. Moreover, suchphrases are not necessarily referring to the same embodiment. Further,when a particular feature, structure, or characteristic is described inconnection with an embodiment, it is submitted that it is within theknowledge of one skilled in the art to apply such feature, structure, orcharacteristic in connection with other embodiments whether or notexplicitly described.

It shall be understood that although the terms “first” and “second” etc.may be used herein to describe various elements, these elements shouldnot be limited by these terms. These terms are only used to distinguishone element from another. For example, a first element could be termed asecond element, and similarly, a second element could be termed a firstelement, without departing from the scope of example embodiments. Asused herein, the term “and/or” includes any and all combinations of oneor more of the listed terms.

The terminology used herein is for the purpose of describing particularembodiments only and is not intended to limit example embodiments. Asused herein, the singular forms “a”, “an” and “the” are intended toinclude the plural forms as well, unless the context clearly indicatesotherwise. It will be further understood that the terms “comprises”,“comprising”, “has”, “having”, “includes” and/or “including”, when usedherein, specify the presence of stated features, elements, and/orcomponents etc., but do not preclude the presence or addition of one ormore other features, elements, components and/or combinations thereof.

As used in this application, the term “circuitry” may refer to one ormore or all of the following:

-   -   (a) hardware-only circuit implementations (such as        implementations in only analog and/or digital circuitry) and    -   (b) combinations of hardware circuits and software, such as (as        applicable):        -   (i) a combination of analog and/or digital hardware            circuit(s) with software/firmware and        -   (ii) any portions of hardware processor(s) with software            (including digital signal processor(s)), software, and            memory(ies) that work together to cause an apparatus, such            as a mobile phone or server, to perform various functions)            and    -   (c) hardware circuit(s) and or processor(s), such as a        microprocessor(s) or a portion of a microprocessor(s), that        requires software (e.g., firmware) for operation, but the        software may not be present when it is not needed for operation.

This definition of circuitry applies to all uses of this term in thisapplication, including any claims. As a further example, as used in thisapplication, the term circuitry also covers an implementation of only ahardware circuit or processor (or multiple processors) or portion of ahardware circuit or processor and its (or their) accompanying softwareand/or firmware. The term circuitry also covers, for example, and ifapplicable to the particular claim element, a baseband integratedcircuit or processor integrated circuit for a mobile device or a similarintegrated circuit in server, a cellular network device, or othercomputing or network device.

As used herein, the term “communication network” refers to a networkfollowing any suitable communication standards, such as New Radio (NR),Long Term Evolution (LTE), LTE-Advanced (LTE-A), Wideband Code DivisionMultiple Access (WCDMA), High-Speed Packet Access (HSPA), Narrow BandInternet of Things (NB-IoT) and so on. Furthermore, the communicationsbetween a terminal device and a network device in the communicationnetwork may be performed according to any suitable generationcommunication protocols, including, but not limited to, the firstgeneration (1G), the second generation (2G), 2.5G, 2.75G, the thirdgeneration (3G), the fourth generation (4G), 4.5G, the fifth generation(5G) communication protocols, and/or any other protocols eithercurrently known or to be developed in the future. Embodiments of thepresent disclosure may be applied in various communication systems.Given the rapid development in communications, there will of course alsobe future types of communication technologies and systems with which thepresent disclosure may be embodied. The scope of the present disclosureshould not be seen as limited to only the aforementioned system.

As used herein, the term “network device” refers to a node in acommunication network via which a terminal device accesses the networkand receives services therefrom. The network device may refer to a basestation (BS) or an access point (AP), for example, a node B (NodeB orNB), an evolved NodeB (eNodeB or eNB), a NR NB (also referred to as agNB), a Remote Radio Unit (RRU), a radio header (RH), a remote radiohead (RRH), a relay, a low power node such as a femto, a pico, and soforth, depending on the applied terminology and technology.

The term “terminal device” refers to any end device that may be capableof wireless communication. By way of example rather than limitation, aterminal device may also be referred to as a communication device, userequipment (UE), a Subscriber Station (SS), a Portable SubscriberStation, a Mobile Station (MS), or an Access Terminal (AT). The terminaldevice may include, but is not limited to, a mobile phone, a cellularphone, a smart phone, voice over IP (VoIP) phones, wireless local loopphones, a tablet, a wearable terminal device, a personal digitalassistant (PDA), portable computers, desktop computer, image captureterminal devices such as digital cameras, gaming terminal devices, musicstorage and playback appliances, vehicle-mounted wireless terminaldevices, wireless endpoints, mobile stations, laptop-embedded equipment(LEE), laptop-mounted equipment (LME), USB dongles, smart devices,wireless customer-premises equipment (CPE), an Internet of Things (IoT)device, a watch or other wearable, a head-mounted display (HMD), avehicle, a drone, a medical device and applications (e.g., remotesurgery), an industrial device and applications (e.g., a robot and/orother wireless devices operating in an industrial and/or an automatedprocessing chain contexts), a consumer electronics device, a deviceoperating on commercial and/or industrial wireless networks, and thelike. In the following description, the terms “terminal device”,“communication device”, “terminal”, “user equipment” and “UE” may beused interchangeably.

In communication networks where a number of network devices are jointlydeployed in a geographical area to serve respective cells, a terminaldevice may have an active connection with a network device when beinglocated within the corresponding cell. In the active connection, theterminal device may communicate with that network device on thefrequency band in both an uplink (UL) and a downlink (DL). The terminaldevice may need to switch a link in one direction such as the UL to afurther network device due to various reasons such as qualitydegradation in the UL.

Now communication technologies have evolved to the fifth generation newradio, which is also referred to as 5G NR, and the antenna device istypically comprised of a larger antenna array including massive antennaelements (AEs) to form a multiband antenna, for example. By way ofexample, the antenna device used in a radio cellular network oftenincludes an antenna array that contains 192 AEs (96 dual polarizedpatches) to synthesize a desired beam pattern.

In a multiband antenna, the electromagnetic (EM) characteristics of aparticular antenna element influence the other elements and arethemselves influenced by the elements in their proximity. Thisinter-element influence or mutual coupling between the antenna elementsis dependent on various factors, namely, number and type of antennaelements, inter-element spacing, relative orientation of elements,radiation characteristics of the radiators, scan angle, bandwidth,direction of arrival of the incident signals, and the components of thefeed network.

The presence of coupling in a multiband antenna changes the terminalimpedances of the antenna elements, reflection coefficients, and theantenna gain. These fundamental properties of the multiband antenna havea greater influence on their radiation characteristics and outputsignal-to-interference plus noise ratio. Furthermore, it affects thesteady state response, transient response, speed of response, resolutioncapability, and interference rejection ability. To solve the problemscaused by the above-mentioned coupling phenomena, there are conventionalsolutions to increase the distance between a low band dipole and a highband dipole. These solutions are bound to increase the size of theantenna, which runs counter to today's increasing pursuit ofminiaturized or compact antennas.

In order to at least partially address the above and other potentialproblems, example embodiments of the present disclosure provide adecoupling apparatus and a radiation unit for an antenna. Now someexample embodiments will be described with reference to FIGS. 1-11 .

FIGS. 1 and 2 show a perspective view and a top view of a portion ofarray antennas 300 acting as a multiband antenna 300 according toexample embodiments of the present disclosure. The multiband antenna 300as shown in FIGS. 1 and 2 comprises at, least two radiation units 200for transmitting radiation with different frequency bands, i.e., a highband radiation unit and a low band radiation unit 200. “Transmitting”mentioned herein means receiving and/or emitting.

In addition, it is to be understood that the “high band” and “low band”as mentioned herein are not absolute concepts, but relative concepts. Inother words, both “high band” and “low band” may belong to any one ofhigh-frequency band frequency, mid-frequency band frequency orlow-frequency band frequency well-known in the art. In other words,regarding two different frequency bands, no matter whether the twofrequency bands belong to the high-frequency band, mid-frequency band orlow-frequency band known in the art, “high band” refers to therelatively higher frequency band of the two frequency bands, whereas“low band” refers to the relatively lower frequency band.

The array antennas 300 as shown FIGS. 1 and 2 belong to an antennaarrangement with two low band radiation units 200 and three high bandradiation units. In the array arrangement as shown in FIGS. 1 and 2 ,the decoupling apparatus 100 according to example embodiments of thepresent disclosure can be applied to the low band radiation units 200 toobtain a better decoupling effect.

It is to be understood that the antenna arrangement as shown in FIGS. 1and 2 , on which the decoupling apparatus 100 according to exampleembodiments of the present disclosure is applied, is merely forillustrative purposes, without suggesting any limitation as to the scopeof the present disclosure. The radiation unit using the decouplingapparatus 100 according to example embodiments of the present disclosuremay be applied to any suitable multiband antenna arrangements which havehigh band radiation unit(s) and low band radiation unit(s) 200 to obtaina certain decoupling effect. For example, in some alternative exampleembodiments, the decoupling apparatus 100 may also be applied to theantenna arrangement with two low band radiation units 200 and four highband radiation units. In the following, the concept of the presentdisclosure will be discussed in detail by taking the antenna arrangementas shown in FIGS. 1 and 2 as an example. Other antenna arrangements withthe decoupling apparatus 100 are similar, which will not be repeatedrespectively.

The radiation unit 200 to which the decoupling apparatus 100 accordingto example embodiments of the present disclosure is applied may have anysuitable structure. FIGS. 3 and 4 show in detail a structure of theradiation unit 200 used in the antenna arrangement as shown in FIGS. 1and 2 . As shown in FIGS. 3 and 4 , in some example embodiments, theradiation unit 200 may be a dipole comprising a supporting part 201, atleast one feeding part 202 and at least one decoupling apparatus 100according to example embodiments of the present disclosure acting asradiation part(s).

The feeding part 202 and the decoupling apparatus 100 are respectivelyelectrically connected to different positions of the supporting part201. Specifically, as shown in FIGS. 3 and 4 , the radiation unitcomprises four decoupling apparatuses 100 acting as radiation parts andarranged perpendicular to each other. The feeding parts 202 are arrangedon lower portions of the supporting part 201. In the case where theantenna 300 belongs to an emitting antenna system, the feeding part 202can convey radio frequency (RF) electrical current into the radiationpart of the antenna 300, where the current is converted to radiation. Inthe case where the antenna 300 belongs to a receiving antenna system,the feeding part 202 can convert the electric currents already collectedfrom incoming radio waves into a specific voltage to current ratio(impedance) needed at the receiver.

Furthermore, in the radiation unit 200 using the decoupling apparatus100 according to example embodiments of the present disclosure, thefeeding part 202 can excite the radiation parts in any suitable methodscomprising direct feeding and parasitically coupled feeding. In directfeeding, the decoupling apparatus 100 is fed directly through acorporate feed network using T-junction and quarter wave transformers.In parasitically coupled feeding, the decoupling apparatus 100 isexcited through a capacitive gap. The parasitically coupled feedingreduces the size further compared to the direct feeding.

It is to be understood that the above example embodiments where thedecoupling apparatus 100 is applied to the radiation unit 200 as shownin FIGS. 3 and 4 are merely for illustrative purposes, withoutsuggesting any limitation as to the scope of the present disclosure. Thedecoupling apparatus 100 may be applied to any suitable radiation unit200 comprising at least one radiation part. For example, in somealternative example embodiments, the decoupling apparatus 100 may alsobe applied to the radiation unit 200 comprising two, three, five, six ormore radiation parts with any suitable arrangement.

Furthermore, FIGS. 3 and 4 show that all of the radiation parts, i.e.,four radiation parts of the radiation unit employ the decouplingapparatus 100 to obtain a better decoupling effect. It is to beunderstood that this is merely for illustrative purposes, withoutsuggesting any limitation as to the scope of the present disclosure. Insome alternative example embodiments, the decoupling apparatus 100 mayonly be used to replace some, for example, one, two or three, of thefour radiation parts. For example, in some example embodiments, thedecoupling apparatus 100 may replace two of radiation parts adjacent tohigh band radiation units. In the following, the concept of the presentdisclosure will be discussed in detail by taking the radiation unit 200as shown in FIGS. 3 and 4 as an example. Other radiation units 200 withthe decoupling apparatus 100 or other arrangements of the decouplingapparatus 100 on the radiation unit 200 are similar, which will not berepeated respectively.

The above describes several example embodiments of the radiation unit200 and the antenna 300 to which the decoupling apparatus 100 accordingto example embodiments of the present disclosure can be applied. In thefollowing, several example embodiments of the decoupling apparatus 100will be described in conjunction with FIGS. 5 to 11 .

As shown in FIGS. 5 to 11 , generally, the decoupling apparatus 100according to example embodiments of the present disclosure comprises aconductive body 101 and at least one slot 102 formed on the conductivebody 101. The conductive body 101 is used as a radiation part of anantenna 300 to emit and/or receive electromagnetic waves with apredetermined frequency. The conductive body 101 may be made of anysuitable electrically conductive material. For example, in some exampleembodiments, the conductive body 101 may be a copper sheet arranged on aprinted circuit board acting as a substrate. In this way, the decouplingapparatus 100 can be manufactured and assembled in a cost effective way.

It is to be understood that the above example embodiments where theconductive body 101 is a copper sheet are merely for illustrativepurposes, without suggesting any limitation as to the scope of thepresent disclosure. The conductive body 101 may be manufactured in anysuitable way. For example, in some alternative example embodiments, theconductive body 101 may be directly formed from metal sheets or metalplates made of metals such as copper, aluminum or iron or alloys thereofwithout a printed circuit board acting as a substrate.

The at least one slot 102 comprises a dividing part and an intersectingpart intersecting with the dividing part. The dividing part extends toan edge 1011 of the conductive body 101 to divide the edge 1011, and theintersecting part extends within the conductive body 101. In otherwords, the edge 1011 is broken by the dividing part of the slot 102.

As mentioned above, in conventional solutions of the conductive body 101without the slot 102, the induced current would run substantially in amain direction to cause the extra radiation, which may deteriorate theperformance of various characteristics of the antenna system. In thisway, under an induction of electromagnetic waves with at least onefrequency different from the predetermined frequency as mentioned above,mutually reversed currents 400 can be generated in the conductive body101. In comparison to the conventional solutions, with the at least oneslot 102 formed on the conductive body 101, the electromagnetic fieldenergy generated by the induced currents, i.e., the mutually revisedcurrents are neutralized. In this way, the extra radiation generated bythe induced current is removed and thus the performance ofcharacteristics such as the gain and the radiation pattern, etc., of theantenna system is improved.

With the radiation part comprising the decoupling apparatus 100, thedifferent band radiation units 200 do not need to be far away from eachother to obtain good performance. In this case, the antenna 300 can bemade more compact, thereby further saving, for example, limited space ina network device such as a base station, and thereby increasing theradiation range of the network device in a cost-effective manner.Furthermore, the at least one slot 102 is integrally formed in theconductive body 101 without additional welding and other steps, whichimproves the decoupling effect and is easier to manufacture.

In some embodiments, each of the two parts, namely, the dividing part orthe intersecting part, extends substantially in one direction, and mayhave any suitable shape, such as a curved shape or a linear shape. Insome embodiments, widths of the dividing part and the intersecting partmay be substantially the same to obtain a better decoupling effect.

Alternatively or additionally, in some example embodiments, each part ofthe slot may comprise two or more linear and/or curved sub-slots, whichmay be parallel to each other or diverge at a predetermined angle. Inthe following, the concept of the present disclosure will be discussedby taking the dividing part or the intersecting part is of a linearshape as an example. Other arrangements are similar and will not berepeated respectively.

Furthermore, the dividing part and the intersecting part may intersectat any appropriate angle. For example, the dividing part and theintersecting part may intersect at an angle larger than 80° but smallerthan 100° to obtain a better decoupling effect. In addition, thedividing part may extend to the edge 101 at any suitable angle, such aswithin a range from 80° to 100° to obtain a better decoupling effect. Inthe following, the concept of the present disclosure will be discussedby taking the dividing part being substantially perpendicular to theintersecting part, and the dividing part extending to the edge at about90° as an example. Other arrangements are similar and will not berepeated respectively.

In some example embodiments, the dividing part and the intersecting partmay intersect with each other at respective ends thereof tosubstantially form an L-shape or a 7-shape, as shown in FIG. 5 .Alternatively and additionally, in some example embodiments, thedividing part and the intersecting part may also intersect with eachother at respective positions other than the ends to form a crisscrossshape, as shown in FIG. 6 .

Alternatively and additionally, in some example embodiments, the slotmay also be of a T-shape, which means that the dividing part and theintersecting part are perpendicular or substantially perpendicular toeach other, as shown in FIG. 7 . That is, one part, namely, alongitudinal part L, of the slot 102 extends from a middle portion ofanother part, namely, a transverse part T. Here, the “middle portion”means within a certain range with respect to a center. Specifically,when the longitudinal part L extends from the center of the transversepart T, the slot 102 is symmetrical with respect to a center line of thelongitudinal part L. When the longitudinal part L extends from themiddle portion other than the center of the transverse part T, the slot102 is asymmetrical.

The aforementioned slots of the L-shape, 7-shape, crisscross shape, or Tshape may be formed in the conductive body 101 individually or in acombined form. In addition, some example embodiments also use theL-shaped or 7-shaped slots as a variant of the T-shaped slots, whichwill be further discussed below. In the following, the concept of thepresent disclosure will be discussed by taking the symmetrical T-shapedslot 102 and its variant as examples. The slots 102 in other forms aresimilar and will not be repeated respectively.

To obtain a better decoupling effect, as shown in FIG. 7 , in someexample embodiments, the longitudinal part L of the slot 102 acting asthe dividing part extends to the edge 1011 to divide the edge 1011. Inthis way, under an induction of electromagnetic waves with at least onefrequency different from the predetermined frequency as mentioned above,mutually reversed currents 400 can be generated around the transversepart T, namely, the intersecting part, as shown in FIG. 7 . It is to beunderstood that, for the sake of clarity, only the reverse current isshown in FIG. 7 .

It is to be understood that the above example embodiments where thelongitudinal part L of the slot 102 extends to the edge 1011 to dividethe edge 1011 are merely illustrative, without suggesting any limitationas to the scope of the present disclosure. In some alternative exampleembodiments, it may also be the transverse part T of the slot 102 actingas the dividing part to break the edge 1011. In the following, theconcept of the present disclosure will be discussed by taking thelongitudinal part L extending to the edge 1011 as an example. Otherarrangements are similar, which will not be repeated below.

Furthermore, in the case where the at least one slot 102 comprises aplurality of slots 102, each of the plurality of the slots 102 may havea dividing part extending to the edge 1011 to break the edge 1011. Insome alternative example embodiments, some rather than all of theplurality of the slots 10:2 have the dividing part. Other slots 102 donot have the dividing part but have a part extending to the slots 102that have the dividing part.

In addition, as shown in FIGS. 7 to 11 , in some example embodiments,the transverse part T of the slot 102 extends along a length direction Dof the conductive body 101. This arrangement may further make theantenna 300 more compact. In some example embodiments, the length of thetransverse part T is within a range of one-eighth to one-fourth of awavelength of the electromagnetic waves transmitted by the radiationpart, so as to obtain a further improved transmitting performance of theradiation part.

It is to be understood that the transverse part T of the slot 102extending along a width direction of the conductive body 101 is alsopossible depending on shapes of the radiation parts, etc. In thefollowing, the concept of the present disclosure will be discussed bytaking the transverse part T of the slot 102 extending along the lengthdirection D of the conductive body 101 as an example. Other arrangementsare similar and will not be repeated respectively.

In some example embodiments, the at least one slot 102 may be arrangedin pairs. For example, the slots 102 may comprise at least one pair ofslots with the dividing parts extending in different directions. Thatis, in a pair of slots, the dividing part of one slot and the dividingpart of the other slot extend in different directions, which means thatthey may be at any appropriate angle other than 0°, such as 90°, 180°,270° or any angle between these angles. For example, in some exampleembodiments, as shown in FIGS. 7 and 8 , the longitudinal parts L of theslots 102 acting as the dividing parts extend in opposite directions,which means that they are at about 180°.

In some example embodiments, the at least one pair of slots 102 may bearranged symmetrically, as shown in FIG. 7 , to further improve theperformances of the antenna system. In some example embodiments, eachpair of the slots 102 may be symmetrical, as shown in FIG. 7 . Inalternative example embodiments, some rather than all of the slots 102are symmetrical and others are asymmetrical, which makes the arrangementof T-slots 102 more flexible and adaptable to various situations toimprove applicability.

In some alternative example embodiments, all pairs of the slots 102 mayalso be asymmetrical. For example, as shown in FIG. 8 , the pair of theslots 102 in opposite orientations are asymmetrical. Each pair of slots102 are offset from each other in the length direction D of theconductive body 101. In the case where the decoupling apparatus 100 ismade of sheet metal, compared to the case of a symmetrical arrangement,this arrangement can increase a width or the portion of the conductivebody 101 aligned with the longitudinal part L, thereby increasing thestrength of the conductive body 101.

FIG. 8 shows that in some example embodiments, the transverse parts T ofthe slots 102 are not aligned in the length direction D of theconductive body 101. It is to be understood that this is merely forillustrative purposes, without suggesting any limitation as to the scopeof the present disclosure. Any suitable arrangements are also possible.

For example, in some alternative example embodiments, the transverseparts T of the slots 102 may be aligned in the length direction D of theconductive body 101. Furthermore, the plurality of T-shaped slots maynot appear in pairs, but are arranged on the conductive body 101 alongthe length direction D at a predetermined distance, as shown in FIGS. 9and 10 .

In some example embodiments, as shown in FIG. 9 , two adjacent slots ofthe plurality of slots 102 formed along the length direction D may beformed in opposite orientations. In some alternative exampleembodiments, as shown in FIG. 10 , the dividing parts of the pluralityof slots 102 may extend in a same direction. The diversifiedarrangements of slots 102 enable the decoupling apparatus 100 to adaptto various situations, thereby improving applicability.

The example embodiments described above with reference to FIGS. 7 to 10show an example of the T-shape where transverse part T and thelongitudinal part L are connected to each other to form the T-shape. Insome alternative example embodiments, the T-shape may also be presentedin other ways. For example, as shown in FIG. 11 , two parts of theT-shaped slot that are separated along a center line of the longitudinalpart L may be formed in the conductive body 101 in a separated manner.

That is, in some example embodiments, the two parts of the slot 102,which may be symmetrical or asymmetrical as mentioned above, areseparated along the center line of the longitudinal part L. For ease ofdiscussion, the two parts will be referred to as a first part 1021 and asecond part 1022 in the following, respectively. As shown in FIG. 11 ,in some example embodiments, the first part 1021 and the second part1022, each is 7-shaped or L-shaped as mentioned above, may be formedindependently in the conductive body 101. For example, the first part1021 and second part 1022 may be symmetrically arranged on both sides ofthe adjacent slot 102 which has the first and second parts 1021, 1022integrally formed. This arrangement can further optimize the decouplingeffect of the decoupling apparatus 100.

Several possible arrangements of the slots 102 in the decouplingapparatus 100 are described above with reference to FIGS. 5 to 11 . Itshould be understood that the arrangements shown in FIGS. 5 to 11 arenot exhaustive, and there are many other suitable arrangements as longas the slot 102 comprising a dividing part extending to an edge 1011 ofthe conductive body 101 to divide or break the edge 1011 and anintersecting part intersecting with the dividing part. Through thesearrangements, the performance of various characteristics such as thegain and the radiation pattern of the antenna 300 can be optimizedwithout increasing the size thereof, so that the antenna 300 can be keptcompact.

FIG. 12 is a simplified block diagram of a device 600 that is suitablefor implementing example embodiments of the present disclosure. Asshown, the device 600 includes one or more processors 610, one or morememories 620 coupled to the processor 610, and one or more communicationmodules 640 coupled to the processor 610.

The communication module 640 is for bidirectional communications. Thecommunication module 640 has at least one antenna such as the arrayantennas and/or the multiband antenna as mentioned above to facilitatecommunication. The communication interface may represent any interfacethat is necessary for communication with other network elements.

The processor 610 may be of any type suitable to the local technicalnetwork and may include one or more of the following: general purposecomputers, special purpose computers, microprocessors, digital signalprocessors (DSPs) and processors based on multicore processorarchitecture, as non-limiting examples. The device 600 may have multipleprocessors, such as an application specific integrated circuit chip thatis slaved in time to a clock which synchronizes the main processor.

The memory 620 may include one or more non-volatile memories and one ormore volatile memories. Examples of the non-volatile memories include,but are not limited to, a Read Only Memory (ROM) 624, an electricallyprogrammable read only memory (EPROM), a flash memory, a hard disk, acompact disc (CD), a digital video disk (DVD), and other magneticstorage and/or optical storage. Examples of the volatile memoriesinclude, but are not limited to, a random access memory (RAM) 622 andother volatile memories that will not last in the power-down duration.

A computer program 630 includes computer executable instructions thatare executed by the associated processor 610. The program 630 may bestored in the memory, e.g., ROM 624. The processor 610 may perform anysuitable actions and processing by loading the program 630 into the RAM622.

It should be appreciated that the above detailed example embodiments ofthe present disclosure are only to exemplify or explain principles ofthe present disclosure and not to limit the present disclosure.Therefore, any modifications, equivalent alternatives and improvement,etc. without departing from the spirit and scope of the presentdisclosure shall be comprised in the scope of protection of the presentdisclosure. Meanwhile, appended claims of the present disclosure aim tocover all the variations and modifications falling under the scope andboundary of the claims or equivalents of the scope and boundary.

1. A decoupling apparatus for an antenna comprising: a conductive bodyadapted to be arranged in the antenna to act as a radiation part of theantenna for transmission of electromagnetic waves with a frequency; andat least one slot formed in the conductive body, wherein the at leastone slot comprises a dividing part extending to an edge of theconductive body to divide the edge and an intersecting part intersectingwith the dividing part.
 2. The decoupling apparatus claim 1, wherein theat least one slot comprises at least one pair of slots with the dividingparts extending in different directions.
 3. The decoupling apparatus ofclaim 2, wherein the at least one pair of slots are arrangedsymmetrically.
 4. The decoupling apparatus of claim 1, wherein the atleast one slot comprises a plurality of slots formed along a lengthdirection (D) of the conductive body with a distance apart.
 5. Thedecoupling apparatus of claim 4, wherein the diving parts of theplurality of slots extend in a same direction.
 6. The decouplingapparatus of claim 4, wherein the dividing parts of adjacent two slotsof the plurality of slots extend in opposite directions.
 7. Thedecoupling apparatus of claim 1, wherein the slot comprises a transversepart (T) acting as the intersecting part and a longitudinal part (L)acting as the dividing part that are perpendicular to each other, andthe longitudinal part (L) extends from a middle of the transverse part(T) to one side of the transverse part (T).
 8. The decoupling apparatusof claim 7, wherein the transverse part (T) extends along a lengthdirection (D) of the conductive body, and a length of the transversepart (T) is within a range of one-eighth to one-fourth of a wavelengthof the electromagnetic waves transmitted by the radiation part.
 9. Thedecoupling apparatus of claim 7, wherein the slot comprises a first partand a second part separated along a center line of the longitudinal part(L).
 10. The decoupling apparatus of claim 9, wherein one or more of theplurality of slots are formed so that the first part and the second partthereof are independently formed on the conductive body.
 11. Thedecoupling apparatus of claim 10, wherein the independently formed firstand second parts are symmetrically arranged on both sides of theadjacent slot.
 12. The decoupling apparatus of claim 1, wherein theconductive body comprises a copper sheet formed in a printed circuitboard.
 13. A radiation unit for an antenna, comprising: a supportingpart made of a conductive material; at least one feeding partelectrically coupled to the supporting apparatus; and at least onedecoupling apparatus according to claim 1 electrically coupled to thesupporting apparatus.
 14. The radiation unit of claim 13, wherein theradiation unit is a dipole.
 15. An antenna comprising at least oneradiation unit of claim 13.